2010 Oscars: Bigelow beats Cameron as 'The Hurt Locker' wins six - NY Daily News Oscars 2010: Kathryn Bigelow's 'Hurt Locker' wins Best Director, toppling James Cameron's 'Avatar' 2010 Oscars: Bigelow beats Cameron as 'The Hurt Locker' wins six Kathryn Bigelow accepts the Best Director Oscar for 'The Hurt Locker' at the 82nd Academy Awards Sunday. She also beat out ex-husband James Cameron to win Best Picture over his film, 'Avatar.' (Terrill/AP) DAILY NEWS FILM CRITIC Sunday, March 7, 2010, 10:03 PM " The Hurt Locker " emerged victorious from a tough battle with " Avatar " - the biggest movie of all time - to win Best Picture at Sunday night's Academy Awards . "Hurt Locker" won five other Oscars, including, in a surprise main sweep, Best Director for Kathryn Bigelow . She made history as the first woman to receive the honor.

Only three other women have been nominated: Lina Wertmüller for "Seven Beauties," Jane Campion for "The Piano" and Sofia Coppola for "Lost in Translation." "This is the moment of a lifetime," said Bigelow, who received her statuette from Barbra Streisand , who opined, "the time has come." She dedicated her award to the men and women who are risking their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan , as did "Locker" screenwriter Mark Boal , who won for Best Original Screenplay. She defeated Cameron, her ex-husband, for the helmer's award. The two were married from 1989 - 1991. Jeff Bridges , widely predicted to nab Best Actor for " Crazy Heart ," won for his portrayal of a down-and-out country-western singer. "Mom and dad, look!" Said Bridges, honoring his late mother and father, Dorothy and Lloyd Bridges , for passing on their show-biz tradition. He recalled preparing with his dad for a small role on Lloyd’s TV program "Sea Hunt" when Bridges was a kid. Kathryn Bigelow accepts the Best Director Oscar for 'The Hurt Locker' at the 82nd Academy Awards Sunday.

She also beat out ex-husband James Cameron to win Best Picture over his film, 'Avatar.' (Bouys/Getty) Sandra Bullock , also a front-runner, won Best Actress for " The Blind Side ." "Did I really earn this, or did I just wear you down?" said the romantic-comedy vet. Referring to an earlier awards-season liplock with her main competition, she quipped, "Meryl, you know what I think of you, and you're such a good kisser!" In another highlight from the most anticipated Oscar show in a decade, Mo’Nique won Best Supporting Actress for her turn as a monstrous mother in "Precious." The crowd gave her a standing ovation. "Sometimes," Mo’Nique said, "you have to forego doing what's popular in order to do what's right." " Precious " also won Best Adapted Screenplay. "This is for everybody who works on a dream every day," said New Yorker Geoffrey Fletcher in an emotional speech. Austrian Christoph Waltz won Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of the smooth and scary Nazi Col. Hans Landa in Quentin Tarantino 's " Inglourious Basterds ." "Up" won Best Animated Feature.

Kathryn Bigelow accepts the Best Director Oscar for 'The Hurt Locker' at the 82nd Academy Awards Sunday. She also beat out ex-husband James Cameron to win Best Picture over his film, 'Avatar.' (Winter/Getty) "Crazy Heart" won Best Song category for its theme, "The Weary Kind." The main event, of course, was the heated competition between Best Picture nominees "Avatar" and "Hurt Locker." Both the blockbuster fantasy epic and the Iraq War action-drama entered the Oscar battle with nine nominations, but the front-runners otherwise were complete opposites on every level, including budget, visual effects and box-office take. "Avatar" ended up with a total of three awards: Art Direction, Cinematography and Visual Effects. Molly Ringwald and Matthew Broderick introduced a tribute to late "Brat Pack" filmmaker John Hughes . They were joined by Hughes movie vets Jon Cryer , Anthony Michael Hall , Ally Sheedy , Judd nelson and Macaulay Culkin . Sunday's gala expanded the Best Picture race from 5 to 10 movies for the first time since 1942 in an unofficial and not-so-secret attempt to get more blockbusters into the mix.

Though some did make the final Best Picture cut - "Up," "The Blind Side" and " District 9 " - the increased list also gave a pat on the back to deserving smaller films like "An Education" and " A Serious Man ." Oscars 2010: Kathryn Bigelow becomes first woman to win best director as Hurt Locker blasts ex-husband's Avatar with six gongs | Daily Mail Online Oscars 2010: Kathryn Bigelow becomes first woman to win best director as Hurt Locker blasts ex-husband's Avatar with six gongs By BAZ BAMIGBOYE Bad night for James Cameron's $300m Avatar as it wins three low-key awards Sandra Bullock and Jeff Bridges win Best Actress and Best Actor Brits Helen Mirren, Colin Firth and Carey Mulligan miss out on big prizes Mo'Nique takes gong for Best Supporting Actress in Precious Kathryn Bigelow made history last night after becoming the first woman to win an Academy Award for Best Director - and trounced her ex-husband in the process. Her Iraq war thriller The Hurt Locker scooped six Oscars, including Best Picture, while Avatar, directed by James Cameron, won only three minor gongs.

Avatar - the highest grossing film ever having already taken $2billion worldwide at the box office - won only for art direction, cinematography and visual effects. Trophies also went to runaway favourites Sandra Bullock, Best Actress for American football drama The Blind Side and Jeff Bridges, who collected the Best Actor award for his part in the country musical Crazy Heart. Scroll down to watch MailOnline video reports Making history: Kathryn Bigelow's Iraq war drama film The Hurt Locker won six Oscars. She is the first woman to win an Academy Award for best director, seen on stage last night at the 82nd Academy Awards Delighted: Screenwriter Mark Boal (left) and producer Greg Shapiro backstage with five of the six awards the movie raked in As she opened the envelope Barbra Streisand declared: 'It's about time', and then read Kathryn Bigelow's name for best director. Avatar had been widely expected to follow in the footsteps of Cameron's epic, Titanic, which won 11 Oscars in 1998.. As the Best Director award was announced, Cameron patted Bigelow on the back - she was sitting directly in front of him in the auditorium - and broke out into wild applause.

She said on receiving the directing award: 'This really is, there’s no way to describe it. It’s the moment of a lifetime.' The director paid tribute to the work of members of the audience she had admired for decades. And praised the screenplay as 'courageous'. No hard feelings: James Cameron reacts to his ex-wife Kathryn's film winning one of six Oscars Applause: Cameron, sat behind his ex-wife, looked pleased as Avatar wins the Oscar for Cinematography Congratulations: But Bigelow beat her former husband hands down, with Cameron seen left jokingly moving his hands towards her neck and, right, the pair embrace She said: 'I would not be standing here if it wasn’t for Mark Boal, who risked his life for the words on the page.' And she dedicated the award to 'the people who risk their lives on a daily basis in Iraq and Afghanistan....may they come home safe.' Backstage she spoke about becoming the first female director to win: 'First of all, I hope I'm the first of many. 'And, of course, I'd love to just think of myself as a filmmaker, and I long for the day when a modifier can be a moot point.

'But I'm ever grateful if I can inspire some young, intrepid, tenacious male or female filmmaker and have them feel that the impossible is possible and never give up on your dream,' Bigelow said. Bigelow was the third of Cameron's five wives between 1989-1991 but the situation between them is very amicable and they have traded pleasantries at every stage of this year's award season. Sandra Bullock collects her award for best actress for the American football drama The Blind Side while Jeff Bridges makes his acceptance speech after being named best actor for musical film Crazy Heart As the victory turned into a procession of awards, Cameron joked as if to strangle his ex-wife before giving her a generous hug. It had become clear when The Hurt Locker, which had a budget of just $11million, clinched Best Original Screenplay and Best Editing that it was in with a shout of the top prize. The drama about a U.S. bomb disposal unit in Iraq did not fare so well at the box office and has just gone to DVD in the UK, but it caught on with the members of the Academy of Motion Picture Picture Arts and Sciences.

And that despite producer Nicholas Chartrier being banned from the ceremony for sending an email to voters asking them not to vote for Avatar. Some Oscar voters may have taken against what some felt was an arrogance about 55-year-old Cameron. Graceful: Kate Winslet, who last year won best actress, presented Bridges with his award He made a public statement that it would be okay for Bigelow, 58, to win Best Director but that he should be given Best Picture to honour all his colleagues who worked on the sci-fi classic. The Academy clearly had other ideas. Bigelow dedicated the award to serving members of the military and said that she hoped she would be the first of many female directors to win best director Oscars. She said, 'It was a humbling experience' to be in the same category as Cameron and the other directors - but she remained dignified and wouldn't be drawn into directly commenting on Cameron.

Grand: The best actor and best actress nominees line up inside the venue at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles On-stage appearance: British star Carey Mulligan failed to win best actress for An Education, seen earlier in the night with Avatar actress Zoe Saldana presenting the gong for best short film The other race that captured the most attention was best actress. Would it go to Meryl Streep, nominated for the 16th time but who hasn't won since 1982? Or to Sandra Bullock known as the 'prom queen', for The Blind Side? When Bullock won even she allowed herself some humility. She knows she's a good actress but not always the Best Actress. She plays the role of Leigh Anne Tuohy in American football drama which follows the story of Michael Oher (played by Quinton Aaron), a homeless and traumatised boy who became an All-American football player and first round NFL draft pick with the help of a caring woman (Bullock) and her family.

Good friends really: Bullock beat British competitor Helen Mirren to win the best actress award, while fellow Brit Colin Firth, seen with wife Livia Giuggioli, also lost out on the best actor award to Bridges Flashbulb frenzy: Sandra Bullock arrives at the ceremony in her stunning floor-length gown 'Did I really earn this or did I just wear you all down?' Bullock, stunning in a silver column gown from British designers Marchesa, praised her fellow nominees: 'Four of them that I've fallen deeply in love with I share this night with and I share this award with. 'Gabby, I love you so much. You are exquisite. You are beyond words to me. Carey, your grace and your elegance and your beauty and your talent makes me sick. 'Helen, I feel like we are family through family and I don't have the words to express just what I think of you. And Meryl, you know what I think of you and you are such a good kisser.

Mo'Nique wins best supporting actress for her role in Precious and, right, Christoph Waltz took best supporting actor for Inglourious Basterds Rare victory: Designer Sandy Powell was one of only two British winners, for Best Costume Design for The Young Victoria 'I have so many people to thank for my good fortune in this lifetime and this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, I know. To the family that allowed me to play them, the Tuohy family, I know they're in here and you'll probably hear her in a minute.' On Saturday night Bullock had showed she was a good sport by collecting in person her Worst Actress award at the infamous pre-Oscar Golden Raspberry (Razzie) Awards. She picked up the award for her other film of 2009 All About Steve and thanked the voters for 'ruining my career'. Back at the Oscars and veteran Jeff Bridges claimed Best Actor for playing a drunken country singer in musical drama Crazy Heart. The son of Hollywood star Lloyd Bridges held his trophy high over his head, looking to the heavens and thanking his deceased parents. 'Mom and Dad, yeah,' he shouted.

'Thank you Mom and Dad for turning me on to such a groovy profession.' Mo'Nique received a standing ovation as she collected the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the gritty film Precious, which also features Mariah Carey, about an illiterate and pregnant young girl in Brooklyn. Escorted: Best actor nominee Morgan Freeman still had his left arm in a gloved support following a recent car accident, pictured with Invictus producer Lori McCreary (left) and his daughter Morgana Freeman Actor Robin Williams came on stage to present the gong, making it two in a row for the gritty drama. Just prior, i had won Best Adapted Screenplay, adapted by Geoffrey Fletcher from the book Push. Mo'Nique, who played the role of an abusive parent in the flick, thanked the Academy as she collected her first Oscar for making it 'about the performance and not the politics'.

Hosts: Steve Martin (left) and Alec Baldwin presented the show, seen here surrounded by scantily-clad women Feeling blue: Ben Stiller dressed up as a member of the Na'vi tribe from the film Avatar to present the award for best make-award which went to Mindy Hall of Star Trek AND THE WINNERS ARE... Academy Awards: Kathryn Bigelow is the first woman to win an Oscar for best director | NJ.com Academy Awards: Kathryn Bigelow is the first woman to win an Oscar for best director comments GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/Getty Images"The Hurt Locker" director Kathryn Bigelow has won the Oscar for best director, become the first woman ever to achieve the top honor.Above, Bigelow arrives at the 82nd annual Academy Awards Nominee Luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California on February 15, 2010. "The Hurt Locker" director Kathryn Bigelow has won the Oscar for best director, becoming the first woman ever to achieve the top honor at the Academy Awards.

While her best-known films were such fare as the vampire pic "Near Dark" and the Patrick Swayze surfing actioner "Point Break," the critically-acclaimed "The Hurt Locker" has put Bigelow into a different stratosphere. She was the first woman to win the Directors Guild of America award for outstanding directorial achievement in a motion picture for "The Hurt Locker." She also won the best director prize at the 2010 British Academy Film Awards. She was also nominated for a Golden Globe but ex-husband James Cameron took the prize for his 3D sci-fi epic "Avatar." Bigelow was the first female to win a BAFTA Award for best direction and fourth ever to be nominated for an Oscar after Lina Wertmüller for "Seven Beauties" in 1976, Jane Campion for "The Piano" in 1993 and Sofia Coppola for "Lost in Translation" in 2003. "The Hurt Locker" follows a bomb disposal team during the Iraq War and stars Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty and best actor nominee Jeremy Renner. Bigelow's film delves into the heart of their tour as they contend with dangerous bombs and an even more dangerous insurgency.

Bigelow shot the action film in the Middle East -- specifically in Jordan. Complete Academy Awards coverage: Oscars Spread Wealth to ‘Avatar,’ ‘Locker,’ ‘Precious’ - The New York Times The New York Times Awards Season |‘The Hurt Locker’ Wins Big at Oscars Search Continue reading the main story Photo “The Hurt Locker” won for best picture and Kathryn Bigelow won for best director. Credit Monica Almeida/The New York Times LOS ANGELES — “The Hurt Locker,” a little-seen war film with big backing from the critics, pushed past “Avatar” and other crowd-pleasers to win the best picture Oscar at a Sunday night ceremony here, while its director, Kathryn Bigelow, became the first woman to win the directing award. “Avatar” and “The Hurt Locker” had come into the night as favorites, but the smaller film took the prize from the bigger in the end. “There’s no other way to describe it, it’s the moment of a lifetime,” said Ms. Bigelow in accepting her award.

It was presented by Barbra Streisand, who announced it with the words, “Well, the time has come.” Mark Boal, a producer of “The Hurt Locker,” said of his modest expectations when the movie was shot back in 2007, “Hopefully, we would find a distributor and somebody might even like the movie.” Continue reading the main story There was no mention of a last-minute embarrassment in which a fellow producer of the film, Nicolas Chartier, had been banned from the show for violating Oscar rules by urging academy members by e-mail messages to vote against a film assumed to be “Avatar,” which had the advantage of a vast budget and enormous popularity. Advertisement Continue reading the main story In a sense, the awards season had shaped up into a showdown between James Cameron, who directed “Avatar,” and Ms. Bigelow, who was previously married to Mr. Cameron.

Among other winners, Christoph Waltz took best supporting actor at the start of a sluggishly paced ceremony for his performance as a Jew-hunting Nazi officer in “Inglourious Basterds.” And also, as expected, Mo’Nique won for best supporting actress for her portrait of a terrifying mother in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire.” With no excess of modesty, Mo’Nique thanked the academy’s members for showing that “it can be about the performance, not the politics.” The remark was a reference not just to her considerable talent, but to the fact that she had refused to spend time playing the usual Oscar campaign game. Backstage, she blamed the media for trying to stir up a controversy. Jeff Bridges, a multiple nominee and now first-time winner, took best actor for his gritty portrayal of a broken-down country singer in “Crazy Heart.” A darling of the Hollywood crowd, Mr. Bridges had been seen as the designated winner almost from the moment Fox Searchlight made a last-minute decision to drop the low-budget movie into the Oscar race. “Thank you, Mom and Dad, for turning me on to such a groovy profession,” said the gray-bearded Mr.

Bridges, who brought the crowd to its feet in a prolonged ovation as he whooped, hollered and showed obvious joy in the moment. “Crazy Heart,” one of the evening’s smaller contenders, also took an Oscar for its theme song, “The Weary Kind,” by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett. Sandra Bullock, who had been pointed toward an Oscar since winning a bellwether Screen Actors Guild award, won best actress for her performance as a tough and loving contemporary Southern mother in “The Blind Side.” Like Mr. Bridges, she was clearly a favorite of those in the auditorium, though she had never been nominated before and had been best known for romantic comedies like “The Proposal” and the occasional action film, like “Speed.” “Did I really earn this, or did I just wear you all down?” Ms. Bullock asked her cheering peers. “Up in the Air” was shut out, although the movie, about a corporate operative who specializes in firing people, had propped up the long awards season with appearances at various prize ceremonies on both coasts and in England by George Clooney, its star, and Jason Reitman, the writer-director.

The show clocked in at a relatively long three hours and 32 minutes, but at times it felt longer than it actually was. That was mostly because the first half was loaded with clip samples and retrospectives, while the latter part moved along with the speed that one of its producers, Bill Mechanic, had promised in advance. Before the bigger awards were announced, there was a trip back to “The Dark Knight,” as Morgan Freeman explained how sound editors handled a movie from an earlier year, and a lengthy string of excerpts from horror movies, in an effort to reach fans who do not find movies like the “Twilight” series on the show. Advertisement Continue reading the main story The pace had already slowed with the screening of highlights — and the introduction of two recipients, Roger Corman and Lauren Bacall — from an honorary-awards ceremony that had been moved off-camera to a November date, precisely to keep the show from slowing. This came only a few minutes after a narrator took time to read chunks of script over clips from the best adapted screenplay nominees. But Geoffrey Fletcher, a first-time nominee who won for “Precious,” put some heart in the proceedings as he gasped and seemed to weep in accepting. “I thank everyone,” Mr.

Fletcher said simply. Going into the evening, Mr. Cameron’s 3-D blockbuster, “Avatar,” was expected to dominate the evening along with the smaller, intense film “The Hurt Locker.” But it was not until nearly halfway through that “Avatar” won its first award, for art direction. It was presented by Sigourney Weaver, one of the film’s stars, who sounded relieved as she opened the envelope and spoke the film’s title. Awards for cinematography and visual effects followed. But “The Hurt Locker” had already won for its original screenplay, sound editing and sound mixing, and later added one for film editing, ending any thought that Hollywood’s behind-the-scenes types might have rallied behind “Avatar.” For most of the night the ceremony put in sharp relief a split between the 5,777 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, who in many categories continued a recent tradition of honoring small, independent-style movies, and their own broadcast, which played heavily into the big movies. Ms.

Bullock, from a crowd-pleaser, “The Blind Side,” took the stage as a presenter and was the subject of congenial jokes about her career, which has been heavier on commerce than art, with movies like “The Proposal” and “Miss Congeniality.” “Avatar,” meanwhile, was a constant presence. Ms. Weaver, Zoë Saldana and Sam Worthington, the film’s stars, were all presenters. From an Oscar stage that was bathed in blue for most of the night, presenters and hosts aimed quips at Mr. Cameron, who had a Na’vi blue kerchief (a reference to characters in “Avatar”) in the pocket of his tuxedo and generally traded on the film’s vast popularity in a clear bid to hold viewers, even as the prizes were sprinkled among other films, many of which had made only a small mark at the box office. The best documentary feature award, presented by Matt Damon, went to “The Cove,” a film that exposed the slaughter of dolphins in a Japanese village.

The best foreign language feature, presented by Pedro Almodóvar and Quentin Tarantino, went to “The Secret in Their Eyes” (“El Secreto de Sus Ojos”) from Argentina. Advertisement Mr. Boal’s original screenplay for “The Hurt Locker” made an expected mark for that film. In accepting the prize Mr. Boal talked of his experience as a war correspondent, and dedicated the Oscar to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. In more of a surprise, Geoffrey Fletcher won the award for best adapted screenplay for “Precious.” The Walt Disney Company’s “Up,” about a septuagenarian’s wild balloon ride, won for best animated feature. The prize for “Up” was very much according to the script: it was the fifth computer-animated blockbuster from Disney’s Pixar unit to win the animation Oscar since the category was created for the pictures released in 2001.

In keeping with the straight-ahead nature of the proceedings, clips from the 10 best-picture nominees were shown throughout the show, while another set of clips honored the movies of John Hughes, the comic filmmaker of movies like “Pretty in Pink” and “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” who died last year without ever having been nominated for an Oscar during his prolific career. The ceremony seemed to drag a bit as a result, and, less than an hour in, was already drawing complaints about pacing from a bevy of second-guessers who expressed their opinions online. As the show opened at the Kodak Theater, the Oscar co-hosts, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin, dropped onto the stage from above, holding hands. The two traded quips in a monologue that tweaked a whole string of nominees. “Over here is the ‘Inglourious Basterds’ section,” Mr. Martin said. “And over here are the people who made the movie,” joined Mr. Baldwin, Martin-and-Lewis style. The two donned 3-D glasses to peer at Mr.

Cameron, director of “Avatar.” It was a comfortable, by-the-numbers beginning for a show that promised to pit Hollywood’s Davids against some movie Goliaths before it ended. Advertisement Continue reading the main story With the sun finally peeking through the clouds after an off-and-on drizzle on Sunday afternoon, celebrities began to swarm the red carpet outside the theater, where the Academy Awards would be presented. Many first-time nominees still seemed surprised that they had actually made it to the end of what had been a longer-than-usual awards season. Mr. Clooney, nominated for best actor for “Up in the Air,” said he was not sure whether the decision to expand this year’s field of best-picture nominees from 5 to 10 would benefit filmmaking, but he thought it would be good for the Oscar telecast. “You can get more people on it,” he said. “I think it’s sort of like making the basket bigger in the basketball court so more points get scored.” In the gown parade before the ceremony began, Suzy Amis , who is married to Mr. Cameron, made something more than a fashion statement by wearing the movie’s signature Na’vi blue, as did several actresses and other women on hand.

But Ms. Weaver apparently did not get the memo: she showed up in bright red. During the ceremony, Ben Stiller appeared in Na’vi blueface and tail to present the make-up award, which went to “Star Trek.” (“Avatar” was not nominated in the category.) He sputtered nonsense lines in what mimicked an alien language that had been created for “Avatar,” and said, “That means, ‘This seemed like a better idea in rehearsal.’ ” Adam Shankman, a producer of the telecast and a judge on the Fox reality show “So You Think You Can Dance,” choreographed an aggressive dance number to open the show that was marked by a Las Vegas sensibility. Participating in the ceremony were 36 “opening dancers” and 33 “score suite” dancers. Even before the show began, the year’s awards had made some bits of Oscar history. Lee Daniels, with “Precious,” became the first black director to have a best-picture nominee, while Ms. Bigelow (“The Hurt Locker”) was only the fourth woman — along with Jane Campion, Sofia Coppola and Lina Wertmüller — to have been nominated for best director.

The Oscar season was stretched by two weeks to make room for the Winter Olympics, but managed to culminate with renewed frivolity. The expanded best-picture field meant more cocktail parties, and there was little holding back the flow of Champagne, unlike the last two years when a threatened actors’ strike and then the global recession made the bacchanal take on a more somber tone (at least publicly). On Friday “Precious” dominated Film Independent’s Spirit Awards at a tent show in downtown Los Angeles, taking prizes for best picture and director, among others. On Saturday Harvey Weinstein presided over a party in West Hollywood for nominees from “Inglourious Basterds,” “Nine” and “A Single Man,” all distributed by his Weinstein Company. Outside the theater before the ceremony, the acres of red carpet came alive with a stronger turnout of stars and executives than in years past, when many had been staying home in silent protest of the Academy’s turn away from splashy, big-budget pictures in favor of the arty and small.

Correction: March 9, 2010 An article on Monday about the Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday referred imprecisely to the character in “Inglourious Basterds” played by Christoph Waltz, who won the award for best supporting actor. The Nazi officer he plays speaks four languages, not two. In some copies the article also misstated part of a comment by Ben Stiller, who wore makeup to appear like a Na’vi in “Avatar” when he presented the award for best makeup. He said that it seemed like a better idea “in rehearsal,” not “at the time.” Melena Ryzik contributed reporting from Los Angeles. A version of this article appears in print on March 8, 2010, on Page C1 of the New York edition with the headline: ‘The Hurt Locker’ Wins Big in Split Night at Oscars.

Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe Best Director Winner: Ang Lee Wins Oscar At 85th Annual Academy Awards | The Huffington Post Best Director Winner: Ang Lee Wins Oscar At 85th Annual Academy Awards 02/24/2013 11:37 pm ET | Updated Feb 25, 2013 190 The Oscars took place in Los Angeles on Sunday, with Ang Lee being named 2013's Best Director winner. "Thank you Movie God," he said as he accepted his award. Lee won for "Life of Pi," leaving David O. Russell ("Silver Linings Playbook"), Steven Spielberg ("Lincoln"), Benh Zeitlin ("Beasts of the Southern Wild") and Michael Haneke ("Amour") winless on Sunday night. There's one name missing from that list: Ben Affleck. The "Argo" director was snubbed by Academy voters then proceeded win directing honors at virtually every single other major award show. "Argo" was nominated for Best Picture. Spielberg was thought to be the favorite for this category.

The famed director has won twice before, 1993's "Schindler's List" and 1998's "Saving Private Ryan." Last year, Michel Hazanavicius won this award for "The Artist," a silent film that also earned star Jean Dujardin a Best Actor Oscar. Kathryn Bigelow, who won in 2011 for "The Hurt Locker" and directed this year's Oscar-nominated "Zero Dark Thirty," was also snubbed. Seth MacFarlane hosted this year's awards. For more on the Oscars' 2013 ceremony, including a full list of Academy Awards winners, check out the live blog below.

2013 Oscars Academy Awards Best Director - Facts & Trivia Warren Beatty/Buck Henry for Heaven Can Wait (1978) (nominated) John Singleton for Boys N the Hood (1991) (nominated) Rob Marshall for Chicago (2002) (nominated) Bennett Miller for Capote (2005) (nominated) Paul Haggis for Crash (2005) (nominated) Benh Zeitlin for Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) (nominated) Directors With Two Best Director Nominations in the Same Year: Only three directors have received two Best Director nominations in the same year: Michael Curtiz, for Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) and Four Daughters (1938) Steven Soderbergh for Erin Brockovich (2000) and Traffic (2000) (win) Duo Directing Teams Nominated for Best Director: Only four duo directing teams have been nominated for Best Director in Oscars history, and only twice have the duo-directors won: Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise for West Side Story (1961) - (win) - two Best Director Oscars were awarded

 to co-directors Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise; it marked the first time that awards went to co-directors.

The only Best Director Oscar winner to win for the only film he ever directed was also Jerome Robbins Joel and Ethan Coen for No Country for Old Men (2007) - (win) - the first time a sibling team had been nominated in the category, and the second directing duo to win Best Director Warren Beatty and Buck Henry for Heaven Can Wait (1978) Joel and Ethan Coen were again nominated as Best Director for True Grit (2010) The Director with the Most Film Nominations in a Single Year: Director W.S.

(Woody) Van Dyke holds the single-year record for the most films to receive Oscar nominations (7): Van Dyke directed The Thin Man (1934) that had four nominations (Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Adaptation) Van Dyke directed Manhattan Melodrama (1934) that won Best Original Story Van Dyke directed Hide-out (1934) that was nominated for Best Original Story Van Dyke directed Eskimo (1934) that won Best Film Editing The Director with the Most Oscar Wins For Films in the Same Year: Director Steven Spielberg holds the record for the most Oscars wins for multiple films in the same year: Schindler's List (1993) - with 12 nominations (and 7 wins) African-American (Black) Best Director Nominees/Winners: No African-American (or black) has ever won Best Picture.

African-Americans (or blacks) nominated as Best Director include: John Singleton for Boyz N the Hood (1991) - the first Lee Daniels for Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire (2009) - the second African-American nominated director; it was the first-ever Best Picture nominee to be directed by an African-American filmmaker British director Steve McQueen for Best Picture-winning 12 Years a Slave (2013) [Note: If McQueen had won Best Director, he would have been the first black filmmaker to win the title.] Spike Lee was never nominated for Best Director (only for screenwriting and documentary).

Female Directors: The Only Winner - and the Only Ones Nominated There have only been four female Best Director nominees: Italian film director Lina Wertmuller for Seven Beauties (1976, It.) - the first woman to be nominated for Best Director New Zealander Jane Campion for Best Picture-nominated The Piano (1993) Sofia Coppola for her Best Picture-nominated Lost in Translation (2003) - the first American woman nominated for Best Director and only the third woman ever to be nominated for Best Director Kathryn Bigelow for her Best Picture-nominated The Hurt Locker (2009) - the second American woman nominated as Best Director and only the fourth woman nominated in the category The only female Best Director winner: Kathryn Bigelow for Best Picture-winning The Hurt Locker (2009).

A number of films directed by women have been nominated for Best Picture (without corresponding Best Director nominations), including Randa Haines' Children of a Lesser God (1986), Penny Marshall's Awakenings (1990), Barbra Streisand's The Prince of Tides (1991), Valerie Faris' (with Jonathan Dayton) Little Miss Sunshine (2006), Lone Scherfig's An Education (2009), Lisa Cholodenko's The Kids Are All Right (2010) and Debra Granik's Winter's Bone (2010). Foreign-Born Best Director Nominees and Winners: Note: Only a sampling of the most significant foreign-born directors are included here.

There are many others, either from the UK or other Central/Western European countries, such as Pedro Almodóvar (Spain), Roberto Benigni (Italy), Ingmar Bergman (Sweden), Bernardo Bertolucci (Italy), Federico Fellini (Italy), Costa-Gavras (Greece), Michael Curtiz (Austria-Hungary), Miloš Forman (Czech.), Lewis Milestone (Russia), Mike Nichols (Germany), Wolfgang Petersen (Germany), Billy Wilder (Austria-Hungary/Poland), William Wyler (Germany), and Fred Zinnemann (Austria-Hungary). There are numerous UK-born (includes NZ, and CAN) and French-born (FR) directors that have been nominated or have won: Michel Hazanavicius (FR), Tom Hooper, Danny Boyle, Peter Jackson (NZ), Roman Polanski (FR, but considered himself Polish), Sam Mendes, James Cameron (CAN), Anthony Minghella, Richard Attenborough, François Truffaut (FR), to name just a few.

Mexican film-maker Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu won his first Best Director Oscar for the Best Picture-winning Birdman (2014), and won Best Original Screenplay for the same film. The next year, he also won Best Director for Best Picture-nominated The Revenant (2015). He became the first person in 65 years and only the third ever to win back-to-back Best Director Oscars since Joseph L. Mankiewicz's A Letter To Three Wives (1949) and All About Eve (1950) , and only the third in history, also after John Ford's The Grapes Of Wrath (1940) and How Green Was My Valley (1941) .

[Note: Inarritu had three previous Oscar nominations: Best Foreign Language Film Amores Perros (2000, Mex.), and Best Director/ Best Picture for Babel (2006).] The Mexican director became the fifth consecutive non-American to win Best Director, following Britisher Tom Hooper for The King's Speech (2010), Frenchman Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist (2011), Taiwanese-born Ang Lee for Life of Pi (2012), and fellow Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron for Gravity (2013). Mexican film director Alfonso Cuarón, although a three-time nominee, was nominated for the first time as Best Director, and won the Oscar for Gravity (2013). He was the first Mexican-born director to win Best Director. Ang Lee was the first Asian (or non-white) filmmaker to win Hollywood's main filmmaking honor for Brokeback Mountain (2005). He also won Best Director for Life of Pi (2012). He was also nominated as Best Director for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000).

Other Asian Best Director nominees include Hiroshi Teshigahara for Woman in the Dunes (1964), Akira Kurosawa for Ran (1985), and M. Night Shyamalan for The Sixth Sense (1999). In 2012, German-born directorial nominee Michael Haneke was nominated as Best Director for Amour (2012, Austria). Frenchman Michel Hazanavicius won for The Artist (2011). In 2006, Alejandro González Iñárritu was the first Mexican director nominated for the top prize for Babel (2006). French film director Michel Hazanavicius was nominated for The Artist (2011). In the year 2006, the Mexican directing troika of Alejandro González Iñárritu, Guillermo del Toro and Alfonso Cuaron took a combined 16 nominations for their films Babel (2006) (with seven nominations), Pan's Labyrinth (2006) (with six nominations) and Children of Men (2006) (with three nominations), respectively.

For the 2004 awards, Brazilian-born Fernando Meirelles was nominated as Best Director for City of God (2002) (aka Cidade de Deus). The first Canadian to win Best Director was James Cameron, for Titanic (1997). In 1987, all five of the Best Director nominees were foreign-born: Bernardo Bertolucci (Italy) - the winner Lasse Hallstrom (Sweden) 2013 Best Director and Best Picture Correlations: There is a direct correlation between the Best Picture and Director awards. Usually, the film voted Best Picture has been directed by the person named (or at least nominated) as Best Director. In a number of cases, however, the Best Picture win went to one film and Best Director went to another even though the helmer of the big winner was nominated. Of the 88 films (through the year 2015) that have been awarded Best Picture, 63 have also been awarded Best Director. About a quarter of the time, however, in Academy history, the Best Picture and Best Director winners have been for different films.

The Oscars (through the year 2015) have split Best Picture and Best Director 24 times: see years 2015, 2013, 2012, 2005, 2002, 2000, 1998, 1989, 1981, 1972, 1967, 1956, 1952, 1951, 1949, 1948, 1940, 1937, 1936, 1935, 1931/32, 1930/31, 1928/29, 1927/28 (two Best Director co-winners didn't win Best Picture). In the first ten years of Oscar awards, seven of the first 10 Best Picture winners didn't include any honor for the directors beyond a nomination.

[The exceptions were in the years 1929/30, 1932/33, and 1934, when the Academy honored the director as Best Director for a corresponding Best Picture.] Here are some examples in more recent years (from 1967 onwards): The Graduate (1967) 1972: Francis Ford Coppola's multi-award winning The Godfather (1972) took Best Picture, while Bob Fosse won Best Director for Cabaret (1972) (Cabaret won eight Academy Awards  a record for the most Oscars won by a movie that didn't win Best Picture) 1981: director Hugh Hudson's Chariots of Fire (1981) won Best Picture, but Warren Beatty won Best Director for Reds (1981) 1989: director Bruce Beresford's Driving Miss Daisy (1989) won Best Picture, while Oliver Stone won Best Director for Born on the Fourth of July (1989) 1998: director John Madden's Shakespeare in Love (1998) won Best Picture, but Steven Spielberg won Best Director

 for Saving Private Ryan (1998) 2000: director Ridley Scott's Gladiator (2000) won Best Picture, but Steven Soderbergh won Best Director for Traffic (2000) 2002: director Rob Marshall's Chicago (2002) won Best Picture, but Roman Polanski won Best Director for The Pianist (2002) 2005: director Paul Haggis' Crash (2005) won Best Picture, but Ang Lee won Best Director for Brokeback Mountain (2005) 2012: director Ben Affleck's Argo (2012) won Best Picture, but Ang Lee won Best Director for Life of Pi (2012) 2013: director Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave (2013) won Best Picture, but Alfonso Cuaron won Best Director for Gravity (2013) 2015: director Tom McCarthy's Spotlight (2015) won Best Picture, but Alejandro Iñárritu won Best Director for The Revenant (2015) It has often

 happened that a Best Director winner is not also honored with a simultaneous Best Picture win, especially in regards to John Ford and George Stevens.

John Ford won Best Director three times even though his film lost the big prize, and George Stevens had the same shock twice: 1935: John Ford won Best Director for The Informer (1935), while director Frank Lloyd's Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) won Best Picture 1940: John Ford won Best Director for 1956: George Stevens won Best Director for Giant (1956), while director Michael Anderson Sr.'s Around the World in 80 Days (1956) won Best Picture The Only Best Picture-Winning Films Without Best Director Nominations: It is very rare for a film to win the Best Picture Oscar while omitting the film's director from the Best Director nominations - this has happened only four times: 1927/28: Wings (1927/28) from un-nominated director William Wellman won Best Picture, while the Best Director award went to Frank Borzage for Seventh Heaven (1927/28) 1931/32: Grand Hotel (1931/32) , the Best Picture winner was directed by unnominated Edmund Goulding - Frank

 Borzage won Best Director for Bad Girl (1931/32) 1989: Driving Miss Daisy (1989) was the Best Picture winner, but its director Bruce Beresford was not nominated, while Oliver Stone won Best Director for Born on the Fourth of July (1989) 2012: Argo (2012) from un-nominated director Ben Affleck won Best Picture, while the Best Director award went to Ang Lee for Life of Pi (2012) The Only Films to Win Best Director Without a Best Picture Nomination: Two Arabian Knights (1927/28), not nominated for Best Picture, but Lewis Milestone won Best Director (Comedy) The Divine Lady (1928/29), not nominated for Best Picture, but Frank Lloyd won Best Director The Most Best Picture Nominations: William Wyler - the Winning-est Best Picture Director Up until 2015, William Wyler held the record for the most nominations and wins for his films in all categories: 127 nominations and 39 awards.

Half of the nominations he received were in the major categories of Best Picture, Acting, and Directing. With his Best Picture nomination for Bridge of Spies (2015), Spielberg's films have now earned 128 nominations, the most of any director of all time, passing up William Wyler (127). William Wyler holds the record for directing more Best Picture nominees (13) and more Best Picture winners (3) than anyone else. His 13 Best Picture-nominated and winning films (marked with *) were: 26 years (and 279 days) Orson Welles for 29 years (and 66 days) Kenneth Branagh for Henry V (1989) 29 years (and 113 days) Claude Lelouch for A Man and a Woman (1966) 29 years (and 193 days) M.

Night Shyamalan for The Sixth Sense (1999) 29 years (and 281 days) George Lucas for American Graffiti (1973) 30 years (and 88 days) Benh Zeitlin for Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) 30 years (and 95 days) Jason Reitman for Juno (2007) 30 years (and 116 days) Spike Jonze for Being John Malkovich (1999) 31 years (and 65 days) [Note: the youngest woman ever to earn a nomination, 32-year old Sofia Coppola for Lost in Translation (2003).] Runner-Ups: 33 years (and 228 days) Lewis Milestone for Two Arabian Nights (1927/28) 34 years (and 238 days) Sam Mendes for American Beauty (1999) 35 years (and 23 days) Frank Borzage for 7th Heaven (1927/28) 35 years (and 36 days) Lewis

 Milestone for 35 years (and 313 days) Tony Richardson for Tom Jones (1963) 36 years (and 1 day) Francis Ford Coppola for 78 years (and 193 days) Charles Crichton for A Fish Called Wanda (1988) 76 years (and 357 days) Robert Altman for Gosford Park (2001) 76 years (and 318 days) David Lean for A Passage to India (1984) 76 years (and 237 days) Clint Eastwood for Letters From Iwo Jima (2006) 76 years (and 54 days) Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris (2011) 75 years (and 319 days) Akira Kurosawa for Ran (1985) 74 years (and 239 days) Clint Eastwood for Million Dollar Baby (2004) 73 years (and 241 days) Clint Eastwood for Mystic River (2003) 71 years (and 181 days)

 Cecil B.

DeMille for The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) Runner-Ups: 69 years (and 217 days) Roman Polanski for The Pianist (2002) 65 years (and 272 days) 64 years (and 100 days) Martin Scorsese for The Departed (2006) 62 years (and 302 days) Clint Eastwood for Unforgiven (1992) 62 years (and 105 days) Carol Reed for Oliver! (1968) 59 years (and 346 days) Fred Zinnemann for A Man For All Seasons (1966) 59 years (and 225 days) Richard Attenborough for Gandhi (1982) 59 years (and 46 days) John Ford for

Question: Who won the Oscar for Best Director at the 2010 awards?
Answer: Kathryn Bigelow